The Small Town and the Super Walmart
Finally, the debate was put to an end when the city council approved Walmart's bid once and for all. For the past several months our local paper has been filled with editorials and opinions about what Walmart can do for our community, or what negative things Walmart will do to our community.
I confess that my feelings on this are mixed. I love my small town. I love all of the specialty stores on Main Street, as well as the coffee shops, music and book stores that wouldn't be able to survive unless there were tourists to give them business. Sure, traffic in the summer time gets more than a little annoying, but I'm willing to pay the price to enjoy the small-town, quaint atmosphere year round, after the tourists go home.
However, money also plays a large role in my feelings. Since we are in a remote, touristy location, prices here are often inflated. It is an hour drive to get to another Walmart, so often I have to pay prices that are exaggerated from 10-40% in town. In an economically depressed area, this is a high price to pay.
Though I am concerned for our local business owners, I also feel that they have taken advantage of our situation. They know that we have to travel many miles to find competitive prices, so they feel at liberty to charge us much more for their products than they would otherwise. Our Super Walmart is scheduled to open in two weeks and I am interested to see what sales and price reductions will be taking place all over town after that happens.
Life is a trade-off. If you are concerned only about saving money, you lose customer service, novelty and sometimes quality. However, if your primary concern is to support the small business owner, you may have to sacrifice items that your family needs. It is a disturbing dilemma which is taking place all over the country. There must be an inevitable result, but what is it?
Published by Amy Kreger
Amy is a stay at home mom who resides in northern Minnesota. She has been married for 9 years and has 4 young children. View profile
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3 Comments
Post a CommentA few short months ago our town opened a super walmart, the largest in the state. It doesn't seem to have affected the tourism negatively nor does it take away from our local stores for things such as groceries. Many people have said that they like to shop at the local stores that are smaller and that they are familiar with. I also shop the smaller stores unless I need to go to Wal-mart to get something specific.
I live in a similar location. We have a Super Walmart, but I don't think it's had a huge impact. The two grocery stores are so much better to shop at -- better produce and meat and on and on.
Interesting article. this is a problem facing anywhere that a Wal-Mart is trying to set up shop. I think your town is in a good situation, in that tourists will still flock to the mom and pop stores, while citizens of your fair town will have a place to go for fair prices. Some communities don't have the advantage of being a tourist destination, and Wal-Mart completely destroys the other businesses.